Overview
In this article, you’ll discover helpful tips on how the KonMari method can work for your patio layout, as well as information about:
Create a clean, organized patio layout using techniques from the KonMari method.
What Is the KonMari Organization Method?
Popularized by professional consultant Marie Kondo, the KonMari method is a minimalism-based strategy for cleaning and decluttering your home. Kondo combined her own tidying techniques with classic feng-shui principles to create a process that encourages people to prioritize items with sentimental value over things that simply look pretty or make a good conversation starter.
KonMari Method Steps
The KonMari organizing method is a multi-step process that helps you target the specific items that are cluttering your home, evaluate what significance they bring to your life and discard things that you have little to no emotional connection to. Marie Kondo’s six rules of tidying are as follows:
- Commit to Tidying Up: Set an intention to devote the necessary time and effort to cleaning and organizing your space.
- Imagine Your Ideal Lifestyle: Picture how you want your home to look and how you want to live in it.
- Discard First: Get rid of items that you never use or that lack any sentimental value.
- Tidy By Category: Focus on organizing and discarding one type of item at a time rather than tackling your decluttering project room by room.
- Follow the Correct Order: Organize clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous accents and sentimental items in that order so it’s easier to let go of furnishings, clothes and decor that evoke an emotional response, but are also cluttering your home.
- Ask Yourself if it Sparks Joy: Joy is one of the key tenets of the KonMari method. When decluttering your home, hold each item you’re organizing, ask yourself if it brings you joy and if so, keep it. Otherwise, discard it.
A KonMari patio only features essential items that spark joy.
Using the KonMari Method Outside
While techniques like the KonMari folding method for clothing and using drawer organizers to stow your hair accessories work exclusively for indoor spaces, you can also follow the KonMari method checklist when organizing your patio. If you’re looking to create an inviting, clutter-free space that complements your style and boosts your mood, take the following steps.
Step 1: Commit to Tidying Up Your Patio
Begin your outdoor KonMari organization project by setting a serious intention to declutter your patio. Depending on the size of your space and the amount of decor you’re dealing with, it could take quite a while. Endeavor to devote as much time, effort and money as it takes to complete the process.
Deciding to declutter and reorganize your patio is the first step in the KonMari method.
Step 2: Imagine Your Ideal Outdoor Space
Next, envision how you want your deck, balcony, terrace, porch, or patio to look and how you want to spend time in your outdoor living space. Do you want it to be a fun hangout spot for your kids and pets? Are you planning to host lively parties and barbecues for friends and neighbors? Answer questions like these to determine what items you need to design the patio of your dreams.
Step 3: Discard Patio Accents and Furnishings
Remove outdoor clutter, including any garbage that blew over from a neighbor’s yard, Sunbrella pillows with ripped or faded fabric, patio lights with broken bulbs or faulty wiring and rusted metal chairs and tables. You can throw these items away or if you’re looking for a sustainable, zero-waste option, consider donating old furniture to a secondhand store that can refurbish and resell it.
Remove old, damaged and mismatched furnishings first.
Step 4: Organize Your Patio by Category
Again, the KonMari method requires you to tackle your decluttering project by category rather than by space. So, instead of working on your seating arrangement, then your dining area and finishing up with the lounging spot by the pool, focus on one type of outdoor furnishing or accessory at a time. Patio accent categories may include:
- Seasonal decorations
- Patio wall art and tabletop figurines
- Automated accents, including entertainment systems and voice-controlled light fixtures
- Gardening equipment
- Plants and landscaping
- Outdoor furniture
Step 5: Follow the Right Order
During this step in the KonMari method, you should organize the easiest items first and save the more sentimental ones for later. You could begin by removing small flower pots and steel planters that take up excess floor and table space. Next, get rid of any lawn ornaments that are overrunning your yard. Then, discard throw pillows and rugs that clash with your chosen style or color scheme.
Organize the items on your patio by category, starting with the things that are easiest to remove.
Step 6: Ask Yourself, “Does It Spark Joy?”
When it comes to organizing patio pieces you have an emotional attachment to, like a suncatcher you received as a housewarming gift or a weathered wooden rocking chair you inherited from a grandparent, it can be difficult to let go. Even if the chair is starting to splinter and crack or the suncatcher is missing glass panels, you may feel guilty or sad about throwing it away.
In keeping with the KonMari method, you should hold each item in your hand and ask yourself whether it brings you joy. Pay attention to how your body responds to the question, and if the item still excites you and makes you feel happy, keep it. Otherwise, get rid of it so your patio exclusively consists of must-have accessories that suit your style and comfort needs.
Organize sentimental items last and only keep them if they spark joy.
Using the KonMari organizing method is a practical, efficient way to create the neat, clutter-free look you’re going for, both indoors and outside. Apply these techniques to your own backyard hangout spot to establish a chic and comfortable layout using the furnishings, accents and items that matter most to you.